Moonlight's Roses
by BunniGirl
Summary: Our past follows us in our memories. What happens when it literally catches up to us? Usa Mamo Demando drama. Manga and anime infused. K for now, M later on.


Author: Bunni Girl

Rating: M for adult situations and language.

Author's note: **I'm revising this from when I was fourteen or fifteen (now nineteen). Hopefully you like the changes! It's gonna involve serious revamping of the plot, a lot of changes to dialogue and description... but hopefully y'all like it a lot more. I'll post the original version on my website (I'll keep ya posted on when that happens!)**

Summary: Our past follows us in our memories. What happens when it literally catches up to us?

Setting: A/U, Sailor Moon R, shortly after Mamoru and Usagi break up and the Black Moon Clan show up in the "past".

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. So don't sue. Boo.

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**Moonlight's Roses**

**Chapter One**

**Bad Day**

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While Dawn's was waking up to another day in Tokyo, people were busying themselves with their daily tasks like ants in an ant farm.

Employees and their employers were up, making coffee, and organizing another day at work.

Parents were making breakfast for their loved ones.

...Usagi Tsukino, however, was sleeping.

"Usagi! Wake up!" A mother's voice could be heard from the kitchen and echoed throughout the household.

The girl in question fell out of bed and groaned, wrapping the covers around her body. "It'stoomearly.." she mumbled as she cuddled more into her furry pillow. That pillow hissed and then she felt a bright flash of pain on her cheek.

"OW! LUNA!"

"Usagi!" Ikuko yelled once more. Usagi glared at the door and then at the offending cat which sulked off, unhappy that it was used as a cushion. "You could've just said no," Usagi rubbed at the stinging pain and stretched, yawning. Geez, what time was it? She grabbed the clock and shook it, convinced that couldn't be the time.

"UGGHHH!"

Ikuko rolled her eyes as her daughter flashed right by her, tapping her foot impatiently and held out her lunch. "Have a nice day-"

Zoom and then the slam of the door. Usagi's voice rang from outside with her frantic perkiness, "Bye, thanks Mom!"

Ikuko's face fell at the sound, and she sighed, "...sweetheart."

She shook her head as went into the kitchen again and she talked to herself some more. "I'm too old for this."

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As she ran down the street, she couldn't help but let her thoughts go back to that wonderful dream that her human alarm clock of a mother interrupted. Her eyes softened. Yes, that was a really nice dream.

What did she dream exactly again?

She slowed down, getting caught up in her thoughts. A part of her was poking her to hurry on and leave the daydreaming for the classroom and she shook her head, resuming her fast pace. No time for nice dreams, whatever they were!

At school, she skated in, just_ barely_ on time. Ami gave her a rather disapproving humored look. She gave a sheepish grin as a reply and a thumbs up. Haruna-sensei couldn't say anything, she thought triumphantly. Not today.

As the lesson started, she allowed her thoughts to drift back to the once-forbidden territory of her dream. It was so fuzzy. She barely remembered a man and dancing. Oh how nice.. a dream of her and her Mamo-chan, she thought, still skating over the fact that her Mamo-chan was no longer technically 'her's' anymore. She frowned at the reminder, trying to focus on her dream, quelled by the curious notion that it wasn't her-... it wasn't Mamoru.

It was so hazy... and she almost didn't feel like it was her dancing. All she could really recall was that it felt beautiful - and his smile was reassured her she was safe from any harm. And his eyes...

She felt a poke at her side and blinked, looking to her side discreetly. Ami was frowning.

"What?" Usagi hissed.

"Pay attention, Usagi." Ami said, nodding in the direction of the board. Usagi looked at the front of the classroom, Haruna-sensei completely distracted by her Algebra lesson. Pffft. 'Algebra,' Usagi rolled her eyes. Like she had to pay attention to something that useless.

She let her thoughts drift and reproved herself earlier; of course that man in her dream was Mamo-chan. It couldn't be anyone else... could it?

Speaking of Mamoru... she gazed out the window and saw him walk by the school gates. She instantly smiled and then her happy face fell, crumbling like a stale cookie in an iron grip. There was a very attractive **woman **walking next to_ her_ Mamo-chan. She bit her lip and tried not to focus too hard on the scene but it proved to be too difficult. They were sharing a very detail-oriented conversation, very close, very-

"Usagi!"

"GAH!"

She snapped back to attention and unglued her eyes from the window. She didn't realize how close she was to the window pane ...or that Haruna was calling out her name for the seventh time in a row. Everyone in class stared at her and she melted into a puddle of humilation on the floor. Ami was avoiding her gaze, looking very guilty. In the background, she saw in the corner of her eye as Makoto smacked herself on the forehead.

She gave a hesitant smile at her teacher. "..H-hai?"

Haruna glared at her, feeling very annoyed at her lesson plan being interrupted. She noticed in the past few weeks Usagi wasn't paying attention quite so much as usual -- alright, so the girl hardly paid attention before, but still, Haruna could tell. There was a definite change in her student lately. A vein neatly popped out of her forehead and she cursed its existence.

...Almost as if she wanted to see how far her teacher could take her homicidal urges.

Haruna took a breath of air and thought, 'Just stay calm, Haruna. Frowning makes wrinkles, Wrinkles are bad.' She sighed. 'Usagi doesn't know any better. You're her teacher, and you must guide her. Even if it is your last week. Breathe, Haruna, breathe.' She closed her eyes and counted to three.

One... two... three... She opened her eyes and looked at the girl that was looking out the window _again_. "TSUKINO!"

"Gah!" She jumped and stared at her teacher whose vein was now throbbing rather nicely on her forehead. Haruna-sensei's arms were crossed and her eyes meant to kill on the spot.

"Something you want to share with the class?"

"Uhh..."

"Pray tell, what is _so_ interesting out that window that is so much more important than my lesson plan?" A few people snickered in the background and Usagi shifted in her seat nervously.

"Uhhh..." Usagi's eyes barely went to the side when she noticed that Mamoru and the girl were no longer visible and she slumped in her seat and picked at the eraser head on her pencil. "Nothing."

Haruna couldn't help but narrow her eyes, feeling absolutely vengeful for all of the times she felt frustration towards the girl. Honestly, the girl really tested her patience sometimes. "Well, that's a shame." Usagi didn't look at her as she continued to pick at her pencil, embarrassed at all the attention. Haruna continued, "You've got the pleasure of having a week's detention for _nothing_."

"WHAT?!"

Satisfied with the reaction, Haruna turned around and went on with her Algebra lesson, reminding herself that it was only until the end of the week and then she was home free. Ami winced and looked at her friend, pitying her. Usagi's body softly thumped on the desk, feeling perhaps a little more miserable than she was before. Haruna heard the sound and paused her writing.

"Make that _three_ weeks." Haruna smiled. A nice going away present, she thought, and then continued writing on the board. Yes, she wasn't going to miss this while she was in America. After all, detention could build Usagi's character, make her appreciate school... and that never harmed anyone did it?

No, Haruna decided with a bigger smile. No, it did not.

Usagi meanwhile could not believe her bad luck. "Ugghh.. three weeks?" She forced her head up for the rest of the day. And even with Haruna's harsh sentencing, she couldn't stop herself from daydreaming. She wondered who was that woman that Mamoru was talking with why he was even with her in the first place. Her eyebrows scrunched together. It was bad enough they broke up, but was he really serious about seeing other people?

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"It's just not fair!" She angrily munched on Makoto's treats, shoving rice cakes into her mouth and spitting food out when she talked. "Hahrooma-senshee-" She started to cough as she choked on her beloved food.

Makoto patted her 'gently' on the back and the food came out and she swallowed it back immediately. Ami shook her head gently, but smiled nevertheless at her friend's enthusiasm for food. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Usagi."

"Sorry. I mean, two extra weeks?! Come on!"

"You gotta admit, she laid down the law pretty good on you," Makoto winked at her. "You always fall asleep in her class.. it's about time she punished you."

"Whose side are you on?" Usagi mumbled, giving her friend a glare. "Do you know this is going to cut into my arcade time?"

"Maybe it'll give you a good opportunity to study." Ami said, humored at her friend and her outrageous antics.

Usagi snorted. Yeah right. More like a good opportunity to catch up on her _manga_. "Sure, Ami. And why didn't you warn me earlier that she was looking at me.. that EVERYONE was looking at me?"

Ami bit into her sandwich and sighed. "I did. I poked you several times with my pencil. You were off in another world."

"Yeah, well... I couldn't help it." Usagi shifted her weight and bit into her food, chewing carefully before speaking. "Mamoru was walking by the school.. with another _girl_." She waited and they continued eating, Ami with her sandwich and Makoto with her rice bowl. "Uh, I said: Mamoru was walking by with **another girl**."

"And?" They both said, not clearly disturbed, as if used to their friend freaking out.

"...They were TALKING..." Usagi was really confused why this didn't alarm her friends more.

"...So?"

"SO?" She grabbed Makoto's collar. "THEY. WERE. TALK. _ING_."

Ami sweat dropped at her friend's dramatics. "Usagi! Calm down. I mean, it's only Mamoru." But she understood her friend's heartbroken plight. Makoto nodded, frowning at her princess' hands.

She removed the girl's grip without much effort and smoothed out the wrinkles on her clothing. "Yeah! Big deal, so maybe they work together or go to class or something." Clearly it seemed that this wasn't the first time she doled out that excuse to her princess.

Usagi waved her hand flippantly at the excuse. "All the more to be alarmed! The more they spend time together, the more she could," she gasped at the realization, "steal my Mamo-chan!"

A big silence and then sounds of eating. "It's not worth agonizing over, Usagi," Ami consoled and Makoto nodded. "What is worth agonizing over is the last battle..."

Suddenly the mood changed. The latent underlying perkiness Usagi held disappeared. "I don't want to talk about it," Usagi said quietly, looking away and her eyes becoming small. Ami and Makoto's gazes became soft and the latter put a comforting hand on Usagi's shoulder.

"It's okay if you don't, Usagi..."

Usagi didn't say anything and kept her lips pursed. Her thoughts were largely unknown to her two companions - who could only venture on what she felt at the moment: fear, anger, resentment, or even... guilt.

"I just don't know..." She finally said quietly, and looked up at the sky as if looking for more words to say.

Ami and Makoto tensed, as if on the same wavelength. They knew better than anyone else how difficult it was for Usagi lately - but something deeper seemed to be effecting her, and as a result... affected how she behaved and her performance during battles. She seemed to be slipping in more ways than one; they knew it, she knew it, and the enemy knew it too. The most recent clash between the two sides resulted in painful consequences... ones that the senshi weren't sure Usagi could deal with.

At least now.

Makoto changed the subject quickly. "Well, in any case don't forget about the meeting today and... Kami, what happened to your face?" Makoto leaned over, her eyes widening at the four parallel scratches on Usagi's cheek.

Usagi snapped back into focus, lifting a hand to her face and humphed, crossing her arms. "Luna."

"Huh?"

"She scratched me this morning! Can you believe it?"

"Really? That's odd..." Ami said, thoughtfully taking her chin with her hand and a sandwich in the other. "Why would she do that?"

"How should I know?" Usagi winced as she touched her wound. "Oww.." It was a stab of betrayal from her cat - for no reason at all. She glared at no one in particular and in her line of sight a happy couple walked by, the girl giggling at something the boy said. Her glare disappeared and her thoughts drifted back to Mamoru. She didn't want to think about him all the time - but there were times late at night when she couldn't sleep, that all she could think about was her lost love... and there were moments, just like the one that passed her, that reminded her of what she once had. She looked at her food which looked somber and dismal like her mood.

"Probably made her mad for something you did."

Her attention turned back to her two friends. She arched an eyebrow and hmphed again. "Why does it have to be something_ I_ did? God, why does everything have to be my fault? You all sound so much like Mamo-...Mamoru." Usagi glared at them despite her faltering, and grabbed another cake.

She almost ate it before Makoto said, "Well, maybe if you didn't stuff yourself so much, you wouldn't be so fat and then Mamoru would come back to you."

"FAT?!" The cake nearly dropped from her hands. Usagi went pale at the possibility and looked at her friends as if death was coming to her door. Ami nodded, looking a little sheepish at the admission.

"Well, uh, you..._have_ gained a few lately, Usagi."

Usagi looked down at her thighs and tummy, bulging with Makoto's delicious sustenance. It **was** true that she_ had_ been eating more since she and Mamoru broke up, but was she really _that_ big? She pouted and put the cake back. "I... guess I could watch how much I eat." _And go exercise and start a diet_, she thought, pained at the sacrifice. If Makoto's words were true, then this was the road she'd pursue to get her Mamo-chan back.

She sighed, ignoring the grumbling in her stomach. So far this day was anything far from planned. She touched the place she got scratched by Luna. Ouch. And her own friends calling her fat! She grumbled and crossed her arms across her chest, slouching. This was no way for a princess to be treated!

"You alright, Usagi-chan?" She came out of her thoughts and looked up, instantly smiling at the sight. Her red-headed friend looked concern down at her.

"Naru-chan! Hai! Sit down!" Her childhood friend sat down and gave a steely glance at Ami who cooly returned it. Usagi tried to ignore it, wondering why her two closest friends couldn't get along.

And wherever Naru went, Umino wasn't far behind. "Hi Usagi!" He immediately plopped himself down. The her two senshi friends acknowledged them both with a smile before returning to their food and respective thoughts.

"Hi Umino!" She grinned and noticed that her two friends sat very close to each other. _I wonder_... she thought amused. There was a bit of awkward silence as the two other Sailors tried to ignore Naru and Umino's presence. Usagi looked back and forth between the two sides, feeling torn -- and noticing, for the first time, the split between what her life used to be like before Sailor Moon and afterwards.

"So I wonder what the substitute teacher is gonna be like..." Naru mused, breaking the ice. Usagi tuned in instantly, alarms blaring in her head.

"Sub? Who? What? When? Where?" She resisted grabbing someone and shaking them senseless. This was a godsend! Solong bad day

"Ha! Would've thought you'd be the first on this!" Umino said, and adjusted his glasses, looking at her. "You didn't hear Haruna's big announcement?"

"Her what?"

"Her big announcement! She's transferring to America!"

"WHAT?! When?"

"At the end of the week." Ami frowned at her friend's spaciness. "She announced this three weeks ago, you know."

"Huh, well who cares! All that means to me is only one week of detention!" Usagi laughed, throwing her hands up, happy her arcade time freed up.

Naru smiled at her overly optimistic friend, her pleasure absolutely contagious. She sweatdropped. "You know, she could just leave a note for the substitute teacher..."

Usagi immediately fell to her knees, grabbing her hair. Kami, could this day get any worse? "Nooo!"

Umino grinned and laughed. "Maybe _you_ can woo him with your charms, Usa-OW!" he rubbed the place in his ribs where he was elbowed by Naru. He sheepishly smiled at her. "What? It's true. I've got it from a good source that he's got a soft spot for blondes."

Usagi snorted, crossing her arms. The only one for her was her Mamo-chan...

And reminded of her problem again, she sighed and pinched a roll of baby fat on her side. Maybe she _was_ getting a little too heavy for Mamoru's liking. Was that why he broke up with her? "I wonder what he'll be like," Usagi said as she inspected her body for more flaws.

Ami started putting away her materials, gracefully standing up. Makoto shrugged and finished her food, getting up to go to class. Both seemed eager to get away from Naru and her less-than-charming companion. The brunette distractedly said, "Don't know. But I hope he'll be hot.."

Usagi focused on her hips. "I'm not too fat... am I?"

Ami and Makoto both smiled at each other and sighed at their leader. Up and down, rain or shine, she would always be their Usagi. "No, Usagi," they answered in unison, walking away together. Umino and Naru held hands as they walked off in the same direction leaving a lagging Usagi behind.

She looked up and then ran after them. "Hey! Wait for me!"

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The clock didn't seem to go fast enough for Usagi. She stared at it, fingers dragging the skin under eyes closer to her chin, liking the stinging feeling of air on her eye sockets. It was preferable to dying of boredom. She sighed and blinked. She couldn't believe she had to spend two hours of her life every weekday for the next three weeks in this place... She glared at the mechanism, willing it to go faster.

It did not.

First she noticed the little hand would go forward and then back a second at a time and the big hand seemed to be rusted at the same spot that it was since 1974. "Go... faster..."

The person 'supervising' her was behind the desk snoring, probably as bored as she was. Usagi wondered very briefly if supervising detention for kids was a sort of punishment for teachers as it was for students. Her head bubbled at the thought of a teacher staring off into the window and then being reprimanded by someone higher. 'Three weeks of detention for you!' She snickered and then sighed, putting her forehead on the desk.

She had read her only manga five times already. Anymore, and she'd be ready to deliver lines from it. She groaned, "Soooo bored." It was just her luck that she'd be alone, with only one copy of her manga and no one else but the snot bubble coming out of Professor Fuzuki's nose to talk to.

She twitched her nose and looked at her communicator, clicking it on and pressing on a button. She waited a minute before it showed Ami's face and she grinned. "Hey Ami!"

"Usagi! Where's the attack?"

"Oh, no attack, just wanted to talk. Detention's going so sloooow."

Ami's face immediately fell from very panicked to very annoyed. "You called me on the communicator to chat?"

"Uh... yeah."

"...I just excused myself from my mother's _very important_ business dinner and you wanted to talk?"

"...yes?"

Click. The screen went blank. Usagi sweat dropped, scratching her head with her pencil. "Oookay. I'll talk to you later, I guess." She pressed another button. It took a few moments before the screen came to life. This time Minako popped up, with small beads of sweat on her brow. This would go over better, Usagi thought. If anyone could, Minako would understand her situation.

"Hey Usagi! Where's the fire?"

"Nothing's wrong, just wanted to talk! Ami didn't really feel like it and I ran out of manga s0-"

"Wait. You just want to talk?"

"Yup!"

"...on the communicator?"

She nodded, smiling. Minako suddenly frowned, her features becoming dim and pensive. "Usagi, you shouldn't be using the communicator like it's a cell phone! What if there was a real emergency?"

Usagi rolled her eyes and listened to Minako, of all people, lecture her. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry." She clicked the handheld off, and grumbled.

"This day sucks." She kicked the floor with her shoe, glaring at the snoring teacher. She sighed, thinking her decision over.

Maybe it was wrong of her to use the communicator like that but she couldn't help herself. All she wanted was someone to talk to her, to listen to her. She was so lonely lately - and it didn't help her that she used trivial things to distract herself from the pain she felt in her heart. Ami and Makoto's words earlier stung her - and not the ones about her weight. She knew she was losing her grip on the senshi she used to be, if the last battle was any sort of indication.

She closed her eyes to keep the tears in. No, she couldn't cry now. Then she would be what they all accused her of being: a crybaby. Usagi couldn't figure it out though... what was making her slip up in the most crucial moments? It wasn't just school... it wasn't just Mamoru. There was something else. Something deeper, more primal...

Mamoru leaving her was the start of it... and now she felt 'it' in all areas of her life: the Senshi patronized her, her family laughed at her, and she was just this joke at school. She growled, feeling frustrated with herself. She was getting anywhere with her line of thinking.

Best to just paste a smile on her face...

She looked outside at her window to the outside world. It wasn't fair that she was chained inside when it was such a beautiful day out. Frowning, she closed her eyes and imagined she was somewhere else... somewhere far away from all this. She put her head down on her folded arms.

She was so caught in her thoughts she didn't see that the beautiful day had started to turn gray and bleak, clouds swirling an angry black almost as if to predict her exact mood.

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To be continued. 

**Not much action, but this chapter is intended to set up Usagi's daily routine in life. Next chapter expect more action! I'm trying to make this slow building and give a really good story. **

**I hope you guys noticed how I've inserted parts mentioning of the senshi's previous battle - to which the details are largely unknown. It's pretty obvious though that it bothers them all, especially Usagi.**

**Would appreciate some reviews to encourage another chapter upload! That is, if the story was good enough. :p Hope you liked the odd bits of humor here and there - because from here on it gets very sad.**

Thanks to Ala Verity for beta-reading this. If anyone else has the time, all I require from a beta-reader is just their opinions, input, and someone to mark the continuity errors here. This IS an Alternate Universe because it's exploring possibilities not otherwise ventured in the regular Sailor Moon series.

**-BG **


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